United States Ambassador to Slovakia

Following the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918 at the end of The Great War, the Czechs, Moravians, and Slovaks united to form the new nation of Czechoslovakia. The United States recognized Czechoslovakia and commissioned its first ambassador on April 23, 1919.

Germany invaded Czechoslovakia in March 1939, establishing a German “protectorate.” By this time, Slovakia had already declared independence and had become a puppet state of the Germans. German forces occupied Prague on March 15, 1939. The U.S. embassy was closed on March 21, 1939 and the ambassador left his post on April 6, 1939.

During World War II the U.S. maintained diplomatic relations with the government-in-exile of Czechoslovakia in London. Ambassador Anthony J. Biddle, Jr. established an embassy in London on September 17, 1941 and the embassy was maintained until the end of the war. Following the war the embassy in Prague was reopened on May 29, 1945.

Claiborne Pell, who would later become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as a young Foreign Service officer, arrived in Bratislava in November 1947 to establish the U.S. Consulate in Slovakia. The Consulate was closed on May 27, 1950, on the order of the Czechoslovak government, at the height of the Cold War. On October 3, 1990, Foreign Service officer Paul Hacker arrived in Bratislava to reestablish the U.S. Consulate there. The Consulate was upgraded to the status of Consulate General on October 21, 1991. In June 1992, the Slovak parliament voted to declare sovereignty and the Czech-Slovak federation dissolved peacefully on January 1, 1993. The United States recognized the Slovak Republic as an independent state and established diplomatic relations with it on January 1, 1993. The embassy in Bratislava was established January 4, 1993, with Mr. Hacker as Chargé d’Affaires "ad interim". He was replaced by Eleanor Sutter on July 7, 1993. The first ambassador, Theodore E. Russell was commissioned to Slovakia on November 22, 1993. The United States has maintained diplomatic relations with Slovakia since 1993.

Ambassadors

*Theodore E. Russell – Career FSO
**Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
**Appointed: November 22, 1993
**Presented credentials: December 16, 1993
**Terminated mission: Left post March 29, 1996
*Ralph R. Johnson – Career FSO
**Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
**Appointed: January 18, 1996
**Presented credentials: April 4, 1996
**Terminated mission: Left post May 21, 1999
*Carl Spielvogel – Political appointeeSpielvogel was commissioned during a recess of the Senate. A later nomination of September 28, 2000, was not acted upon by the Senate.]
**Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
**Appointed: August 3, 2000
**Presented credentials: September 7, 2000
**Terminated mission: Left post April 15, 2001
*Ronald Weiser – Political appointee
**Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
**Appointed: November 26, 2001
**Presented credentials: January 5, 2002
**Terminated mission: Left post December 19, 2004
*Rodolphe M. “Skip” Vallee – Political appointee
**Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
**Appointed: June 21, 2005
**Presented credentials: August 23, 2005
**Terminated mission: Left post December 5, 2007
*Vincent Obsitnik – Political appointee
**Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
**Appointed: November 9, 2007
**Presented credentials: December 6, 2007
**Terminated mission: "Incumbent"

Notes

ee also

*Ambassadors from the United States
*United States Ambassador to the Czech Republic

ources

* [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/po/com/11221.htm United States Department of State: Ambassadors to Slovakia]
* [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/po/com/10465.htm United States Department of State: Ambassadors to Czechoslovakia]
* [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3430.htm United States Department of State: Background notes on Slovakia]
* [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3237.htm United States Department of State: Background notes on the Czech Republic]
*StateDept

External links

* [http://bratislava.usembassy.gov/ United States Embassy in Bratislava]